Video capture (Generic, AJA, Blackmagic & Deltacast)

You can use Generic reader, which works with USB cameras and Datapath products or one of specialized Readers which work with video capture cards of respective manufacturers. At the moment, LightAct supports AJA, Blackmagic and Deltacast video capture cards. Let’s go through all of them step-by-step.

Generic (for USB cameras and Datapath)

They both use the same interface in the Devices window, which has been tested with various types of USB cameras and Datapathvideo capture cards. To read a texture from a video capture source the first step is to insert a Video capture card in the Devices window. You do that by right-clicking, hovering above Video capture and clicking on Add new.

A Video capture node will appear.

In its Properties on the right, you have to select one of the available sources. On this list there should be all the inputs on your video capture card and all connected USB cameras. Once you select one of the possible sources, type in the resolution. Please note, that the selected Source device has to support this resolution. After that, you check the Streaming checkbox and if everything is set up correctly, you should see a green Receiving label below the checkbox.

Getting the texture in Layer Layouts

To receive a texture from this Source device in Layer Layouts you open one of the layers and insert a Video capture reader node.

You select it and in the Parent device section make sure the correct Video capture node is selected.

LightAct should now be able to read from that video capture source as shown below. Please don’t forget that in order for the layer to be alive the transport has to be on the layer (the connections should blink).

AJA video capture

To set up AJA video capture insert an AJA reader node in the Devices window.

Once you select the node, you can see its properties on the right.

In the Source device section you can see all the detected AJA cards together with the available inputs. In the image above, you can see there is 1 AJA card in the PC: KONA4 with 4 SDI inputs.

If you hover above any particular card, you can see its properties.

Once you select the right input with the corresponding radio button and check Streaming checkbox you should see the incoming texture together with its properties on the right.

The rest of the process is the same as with generic Video capture reader. Basically all you need to do is create an AJA listener node in one of the layer layouts and select your AJA reader as the parent device.

Blackmagic video capture

To set up Blackmagic video capture insert a Blackmagic reader node in the Devices window.

Once you select the node, you can see its properties on the right.

In the Source device section you can see all the detected Blackmagic devices. In the image above, you can see there are 4 DeckLink Quad devices (we used Blackmagic DeckLink Quad HDMI card during the development).

In the Stream settings section you can set if you want to switch red and blue channels (enabled by default) and if you want to enable Auto EDID Load. Lock timeout is a setting which determines how long will LightAct wait for Deltacast to lock the slot (in milliseconds). In most cases you should leave these settings as they are set by default.

Once you select the right input with the corresponding radio button and check Streaming checkbox you should see the incoming texture together with its properties on the right.

The rest of the process is the same as with generic Video capture reader. Basically all you need to do is create a Blackmagic listener node in one of the layer layouts and select your Blackmagic reader as the parent.

Deltacast video capture

To set up Deltacast video capture insert a Deltacastreader node in the Devices window.

Once you select the node, you can see its properties on the right.

In the Source device section you can see all the detected Deltacast cards together with the available inputs. In the image above, you can see there are 2 Deltacast cards: DELTA-h4k2 has 2 HDMI inputs and DELTA-12G has 8 SDI inputs.

If you hover above any particular card, you can see its properties.

In the Stream settings section you can set if you want to switch red and blue channels (enabled by default) and if you want to enable Auto EDID Load. Lock timeout is a setting which determines how long will LightAct wait for Deltacast to lock the slot (in milliseconds). In most cases you should leave these settings as they are set by default.

Once you select the right input with the corresponding radio button and check Streaming checkbox you should see the incoming texture together with its properties on the right.

The rest of the process is the same as with generic Video capture reader. Basically all you need to do is create a Deltacast listener node in one of the layer layouts and select your Deltacast reader as the parent.